BenQ PB7200 - General Performance

Posted on October 4, 2013 by Art Feierman

Noise levels

Since I just mentioned noise, the PB7200 is rated at –33db. That makes it unusually quiet for a projector of this size and weight (at the other extreme, Sony’s competing CX-6 is –41 db, or about 6 times as noisey!!! Very few business projectors are quieter in full power mode than the PB7200, and of those that are, most are significantly larger. (The smaller the box, the harder to dampen the noise, which explains why most of the even smaller featherweight projectors (under 4.5 pounds) are a lot noisier -35 to –40db).

Sound

One speaker, rated 2 watts. That’s about 4 times the power of what you usually find in a projector this size. Still, we’re not talking hi-fi here. But it will do a better than adequate job for basic sound requirements in smaller rooms. (By comparison one of the best sounding projectors is a 9 pound Panasonic with a pair of 5 watt speakers. That projector actually has some reasonably good fidelity).

Brightness

2200 lumens of DLP power. As I said in the overview, this projector has more than enough power for most of us. In fact, BenQ also makes a PB7220 with 2500 lumens. It costs several hundred more, and is otherwise identical. The PB7200 is a much better value.

With its 2200 lumens, BenQ's PB7200 will not only handle anything you can throw at it in a small room, but it is quite comfortable presenting Powerpoint or spreadsheets to 150 to 400 people with low to moderate lighting. The PB7200 is an excellent example of why less and less presenters need to spend more than $2000 for a projector.

Lamp life

The PB7200 is rated 2000 hours (3000 in economy mode which is only available in video) 2000 hours is typical today, but are still plenty of projectors claiming 1500 hour lamps (and 2000 in economy mode). Lamp life doesn’t pose a serious issue to most unless you are planning more than 20 hours a week usage (and that would be 2 years per lamp). It is said that most business projectors are used less than 10 hours a week.